Despite the frenzied atmosphere during the rescue effort at Roanoke College, two longtime firefighters said that the crisis could have been handled better had rescuers and college officials more quickly accounted for everyone staying in the building.

Salem rescuers who responded to a carbon monoxide buildup at a campus dormitory evacuated more than 100 people. But more than three hours elapsed before rescuers realized that three people remained inside the building because two rooms had not been searched. One man, a 91-year-old retired pastor, was dead.

Unlike the other rooms in the dorm, those two did not have entrances to a hallway inside the building.

Willie Howlett, president of the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association, said someone from the college should have informed firefighters immediately that the two rooms were oddly situated.

"It sounds like the rooms were remote and would not have been identified in an initial search," said Howlett, a retired deputy fire chief in James City County.

College spokeswoman Teresa Gereaux said that command of the incident was turned over to Salem rescue officials when they arrived and that college officials told rescue workers about the unusual layout of the rooms.

"I don't have an exact time, but it was early in the morning," she said.

Salem Fire-EMS Chief Pat Counts said he was unaware of any efforts made by college staff to inform firefighters about the two rooms.

In situations involving mass casualties, firefighters assign someone to take down names and room numbers of people as they evacuate and compare them to a list of who's staying in which rooms, said Michael Mohler, president of Virginia Professional Firefighters.

Howlett said, though, that having someone check names probably wouldn't be a priority during the height of a crisis.

Asked whether Salem firefighters were keeping track that day of who had been evacuated, Counts said, "I know they were working on it."

He said it was the responsibility of either the college or the Lutheran group whose members were attending a conference there to track who was staying in which rooms and provide that information to authorities.

Another fatal incident of carbon monoxide buildup, at a hotel in Ocean City, Md., in June, also demonstrates how mistakes can happen during chaotic rescue efforts.

A man and his daughter died at a Days Inn after rescuers failed to look inside their room because of a communication breakdown at the scene, said Joe Theobold, Ocean City's emergency services director.

Aside from the hectic nature of such rescue efforts, Howlett said mistakes are made because fire and rescue agencies have limited manpower.

"There are always going to be situations where you can't put out enough resources quick enough," he said. "It's kind of like we can't put a cop on every corner."

Staff writer Laurence Hammack contributed to this report.